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It begins.
Music: Opal Ward
Okay what the hell is this?
It's a bad pokemon fangame, similar to Pokemon Uranium as LP'd by Orange Fluffy Sheep yet different. It too is made using RPG Maker XP and the Pokemon Essentials script package.
How long has this game been in development?
For around 5-6 years, according to a quick chat on the website's Discord server.
Apparently this is based on an real-life Pokemon League conceived by a teenage girl around a decade ago. Said Pokemon League involves you battling members of the community in whatever Pokemon battle simulators were available at a time prior to Pokemon Showdown.
Note: None of this is officially covered in the actual website for some reason. There's no History page in http://rebornevo.com that covers the above paragragh in any detail.
Did the great Pokemon Uranium C&D of 2016 affect it in any way?
Apparently not enough (if at all) to prevent development. There's an update back in December, right after the C&D.
They're working on a new major update right now. In fact, they've already implemented the Pokemon and mechanics from Gen VII into the engine and are probably contemplating how the hell they're going to shoehorn it all into the base game right now.
If I didn't know any better, I'd say they're using feature creep and never possibly finishing the game in full as an attempt to keep on working on it without ending up like Pokemon Uranium.
After all, Nintendo only goes after games that are finished, right?
So you're saying this game is unfinished, then?
Yes.
However, once we're done with Reborn, we'll cover an even worse unfinished fangame inspired by this one: Pokemon Rejuventation.
It's Pokemon Reborn but worse. It's a game where the Mary Sue that can make shiny Pokemon appear out of thin air is more tolerable than 90% of the cast.
How is this any different from Pokemon Uranium? Seems like yet another bad fangame to me.
Well, it is a bad fangame. In some cases it is better than Uranium, but in most other cases it is worse.
Usually people who would read this thread are also reading the one for OFS's LP of Pokemon Uranium.
Pokemon Uranium is a fangame that tries to be Pokemon but not only lets its grimderp get in the way, but also isn't competent to capture the feeling in the first place.
Pokemon Reborn doesn't even try at all. It derails itself off the tracks from the get-go and does whatever it damn well pleases with only the Pokemon formula of "Solve issues with Pokemon battling" and "Collect badges to progress" tying it to the source material.
How would this LP go?
I do remember some of the more notable shit from an offsite LP of this game, but other than that this is mostly blind.
This LP is intended for those familiar enough with Pokemon mechanics, specifically those reading the (as of this post) ongoing Uranium LP thread. Thus, I won't be spending time explaining the basic mechanics.
There will be NO UNMARKED SPOILERS for this game in this thread, and even then keep the marked spoilers in small doses. Otherwise, this thread will be locked for either a day or until the next update depending on how bad the offense is.
Same goes for derailing this thread far from the beaten path.
Right off the bat we start some good news and bad news. Good news is of course that "Fast Forward" feature. Bad news is that if you're not playing this on a computer worthy of the PC Master Race it will not work well, if at all, on large maps. 
My name is Ame. I'm the manager of the Reborn League.
Who the hell names their region Reborn? Just because it's the name of the community doesn't mean you're obligated to use it for your shitty fangame based on said community.
Reborn City is... Well, I'll let you see for yourself, but it's not an ideal place for many Pokemon to live.
I don't know what they're going with this. Reborn City, being huge and spanning multiple 'wards', has a vast ecosystem of Pokemon to catch in a vareity of ways compared to your average city or town in a Pokemon game.
Amethyst gives us a choice of male, female, or neutral genders, and...
I see that grimderp is the fashion of choice in Reborn.
*Screen fades to black*
...Run!
*Pretend you heard a loud (but loud enough) explosion to signify the void train exploding here*
Music: Peridot Ward
Only in Pokemon Reborn can you have a train bombing during the intro sequence while you're talking with someone in the grey void.
???: Hihi!
Julia is Reborn's first gym leader to throw at us and she doesn't leave a good impression of what is to come.
I was at the gym-gym and then suddenly BOOOOM, so I came running! Cuz you know if things are exploding, I gotta be there to see it. It's so cool!!!
So you're DONGS? I'm Julia, captain of cheer and pep, and all things bubbly and bright!
Her idea of 'bubbly and bright' apparently includes overly cute-sounding jargon and a fetish for explosions. Apparently said fetish for explosions so potentially dangerous that she gets accused of committing a terrorist attack.
She has an official job potentially dealing with little kids.
Lovely.
No, I'm not going to participate in something where my first major opponent could potentially blow up the 'gym-gym' over losing.
Whaaaaaaat? That's no fun! You simply must! I'll be looking forward to your challenge, so go on, get down to the Grand hall already!
Now that we have control, let's compare my chosen avatar as shown in the intro with the same avatar as shown in the game.
According to the intro portrait, the overworld sprites, especially the ones looking to the left and right, should look more symmetrical and less messy than what we got here.
So was my fiancee.
...
We now have at least one confirmed death from that train bombing. The same train bombing that our first gym leader is accused of committing as soon as she came on screen.
Music: Opal Ward
What? I know it doesn't work on humans, but just take it, okay?
Somebody gives us a Potion for no reason because we don't get to access the obligatory potion in the PC before we fight our obligatory rival battles.
Filthy.
Absolutely horrid.
...What are you lookin' at?
If you haven't noticed already, this is supposed to be grimderp dark.
Music: Pokemon Center
Consistent walking speeds are hard here in Pokemon Reborn.
Looks like the terrorist subplot has already been resolved, without our input, in the span of the minute it took to get here.
Here's our starter pool for this game. Every single starter from the official games up to Gen VI is a possible choice here.
It would be a good time to mention that in this game, hidden Abilities are treated as normal Abilities that a Pokemon can have when you get him/her/it through any means, whether you get it from here, from the wild, or whatever.
There no special chance for a 'mon to have a hidden ability here. It's a plain 50/50 or 33/33/33 between each ability.
Shinies are more common in the region of Reborn. Reborn's shinies are also more grimdark.
Usually a shiny Snivy looks like this.
So here's this guy. Regardless of what character you pick he says the same lines here. Make of that what you will.
Music: Rival Battle
FUCKING SPRITES
Seriously, the Gen III art style is not meant for overly detailed sprites like this.
Mr. "Not a phase, MOM!" shafted with a male Nidoran regardless of what we pick. Here's some proof:
With that getup, Cain either splurged all his money on something stupid or he's just a stingy little shit.
To clarify a bit a dialogue later, here's some lines for if you lose...
1. That one word shouldn't be alone by itself.
2. The script is missing a button pause. It skips to the third line without letting you see the first line of that dialogue without screenshot abuse or slowing down text. What is this, a bad GBA Fire Emblem rom hack?
3. Just what.
"Had some fun"? I didn't know you were like that, DONGS...
Not exactly sure what you're implying, Victoria. It's a simple Pokemon battle, not a...
Ooh, yes, master~
"Master"?
...Forgive me, Victoria, for insinuating that we're dealing with sane people here in Reborn.
MORE SPRITES HOW DO THEY WORK
Boy my avatar turned out real well huh.
Similar to Cain, she always picks Tepig regardless of whatever you have.
In fact, there's some extra dialogue if you picked a Tepig yourself, stating that the Reborn League managed to have multiples of each possible starter somehow.
Before we continue on, I would like to show you the move list for the 'mons we just fought:
Yes, these two pokemon have duplicates of the same attacking move.
I'm guessing it's to make them use the attacking move more often without having to program more advanced AI, though it doesn't give me high hopes if they couldn't be assed to program AI favoring attacking moves.
I'm not sure what possessed them to give Cain's Nidoran the Hustle ability, which sacrifices accuracy for more power, which leads to a more luck-based matchup for the first two battles of the game.
This will not be the last time a trainer's pokemon has a baffling setup.
After battling these two twerps, we fully register for the league, and we get our Pokedex, some Pokeballs, a pair of toggleable running shoes...
...and a PokeGear. Features include...
...playing any music track in the game...
..Looking at the map if you like to scream at the size of this stupid region...
...and trading and battling in the online servers that are suprisingly fast and popular. I got this Larvesta from a "Gensai/Noob" about as fast as I could confirm my selection for the Wonder Trade.
However, it seems like there's an accidental catch against people trying to trade with themselves. RPG Maker XP's system doesn't allow the game to run while the window is unfocused. You can copy the game folder and change the name in the Game.ini file to have two game windows with different saves, but only one will actually run. The trading system does not like unfocused windows, and will usually break by making one of the cursors not set to a certain pokemon, causing a null error when you try to trade. It can also be more oldschool and cause a duplication/overwrite glitch, where one windows gets the trade process off while the other window freezes until you exit it.
To trade with yourself, you'll basically need two computers that can run this game.
We can butt in and see what the hell passes for cable in Reborn. However, none of the channels have anything relevant right now...
Watching the news gives us a plot dump from the future, but it's noting we couldn't figure out once we reach the location of note. To add to that, earlier Victoria gave a similar backstory dump that won't be relevant for a bit, so I'm leaving it out until we get to when it becomes important.
Let's check the Interview option for shits and giggles.
Hello! Gossip Gardevoir here in Interview Intermission, bringing YOU the inside scoop on Reborn's celebrity figures! Today, we've got a special report with Bennett Voclain, a studious, slightly annoying, especially awkward, up and coming Bug Type Trainer! Hello, Bennett! Tell us, what--
Gardevoir, what are you doing in my room?
It's an interview, just go with it!
That's-- wait, is this live?
Sure is! Bennett, tell us how--
Okay, no, please get out of my room; I am trying to study here!
Oh, studying! And what--
Go, go go go. I'll tell Mom on you, Gardevoir.
Insolent! How dare you threaten me, the great Gossip--
*SLAM*
Did you just slam that in MY face? Bennett?!Bennett!!! Ooooooh... When I get off air, I'm going to-- In fact... That's all on today's Interview Intermission. Until next time!
...Suddenly I don't even feel safe with my Pokemon anymore. Remind me not to get a Ralts or anything that evolves from it anywhere here, especially not one that talks.
In addition to buying beginner-level stuff, we can also buy candy from a stranger. Reducing levels seems counter-intuitive, but keep this in mind later.
dragons for centuries!
For you, I'll make a special discount, bringing the price down to only $500!
...Well, I got my money. That's your problem now!
A defining trait of Reborn is that it really loves to fuck with the player.
In another episode of Good News/Bad News, the good news is that we'll encounter this thief again. The bad news is that you'll wish this was a one-off trap once you figure out the game's deal with him.
As we leave the Grand Hall, we get a cutscene... I'll just leave the whole dialogue here for everyone:
Music: Atmosphere - Flux (Note, IIRC all the music here were composed by GlitchxCity, and all the remixes here apparently got changed to names like this for some reason.)
So where were we... Ah, right. You were just about to tell me about your little friends?
I'm not gonna talk. I ain't gonna say a word.
Mm... About that. Let me introduce you to my friend, Torkoal.
*Torkoal walks up to and faces the culprit*
Now, my buddy Torkoal here... He isn't the most patient fella. And when people keep him waiting, he tends to blow a bit of hot air, so to speak. Which brings me to my second point. You know what kind of chair you're strapped in, right?
Uh, metal?
You're not completely dumb. Good. So, Torkoal here gets a little fired up, right? When people don't answer. And I think even you can figure out what happens to metal when it gets heated up. So really the choice is yours, friend. Tell us about your teammates, or you'll be in the hot seat, literally. I'll ask again. Who are you working with?
I'm not gonna talk... I swore!
Mm... Torkoal? How do you feel about that, buddy?
*Fades to black*
...Aaaaghh!!
Our allies, everyone!
Torkoal? More like Torturekoal, amirite?
Seriously though, the problem that is explicit to you is that this art style is not only inappropriate for what this game is going for, but it's too limited.
Gen III Pokemon games aren't known for their expressive and/or intensive animation outside battles or special cutscenes. We aren't talking about Metal Slug here.
Unlike those games, this game attempts to do serious cutscenes with action in them with the limited engine we got here. It's a similar case with Pokemon Uranium, sure, but it's more explicit in Pokemon Reborn.
And this discrepancy between the grimderp and the art style is only going to get worse from here on out.
Meanwhile, back with DONGS...
Shnub.
*Snubbull gets the hell out of this crazy thing*
Snubbull! Oh, not again! *Faces us* Oh, excuse me! I didn't mean to get in your way! It's just my Snubbull... It won't listen to me at all! Ever since it became Level 20, it's been totally out of control, even though I raised it from an egg. I guess I shouldn't have underestimated when I heard that Pokemon in Reborn only listen to trainers they really respect. Pokemon will always respect you up to a certain level if you have a gym badge, and you can see that level on your trainer card-- it's the first visible one. But, what if I can't win a gym badge? Is there some other way? Oh! I need to hurry up and find Snubbull! Good bye!
...
what
...And so DONGS decided to get the hell out of dodge. Since there's no operating train at the moment, DONGS decided that two human feet were an acceptable alternative.
DONGS was never seen again.